The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

No report date for Egyptian jihadist probe

It's unclear whether a report on an independent inquiry into the bungled handling of a high-risk asylum seeker case will be released before the federal election.

An Egyptian jihadist terrorist was held at a low-security detainee centre in South Australia for about eight months after arriving in Australia in 2012 before his detention was stepped up.

Prime Minster Julia Gillard has referred the matter to Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Vivienne Thom.

During parliamentary questioning by the opposition about the case, Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor was asked to confirm whether there were others like the Egyptian man within the detention centre network.

"The advice I've received is that there are no (others) in the detention network who have been identified as having an Interpol red notice, similar to an international arrest warrant," Mr O'Connor said.

Ms Gillard could not say whether Ms Thom would complete the inquiry and release the findings before the September 14 federal election.

"It is impossible for me to give a direction to the inspector-general," she told parliament.

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"Under the relevant law ... the inspector-general is an independent statutory officer, and is not subject to general direction from me or other ministers about how she carries out her powers under the Act."

The opposition also raised claims by a whistleblower, published in Fairfax newspapers, that an asylum seeker had been reportedly released into the community a fortnight after threatening to kill staff during a rooftop protest at a detention centre.

Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne asked whether these allegations would be included in the inquiry.

Ms Gillard dismissed the report and accused the coalition of "playing games".

"Their source ... is a newspaper clipping from an anonymous source, they have no ability to check the veracity of those claims," Ms Gillard said.

"Presumably the next question will come from trawling the outer reaches of the internet, and finding what kooks and cranks have got to say and they'll rush in here and present that as something worth hearing about."

Ms Gillard said national security was "just a game" to the leader of the opposition.

Dr Thom said it was not possible to say how long the inquiry would take.

It would be conducted in private as stipulated under the law.

In a statement to AAP she said she was "committed to conducting this inquiry in as thorough and timely manner as possible".